Chapel of St Catherine in Old Goa remains one of the main sites bearing witness to the early Christianization of India. It is often confused with the cathedral of the same name, which is located literally a hundred meters away. You can find the chapel by the archaeological museum located right next to it.
After the Portuguese seized this area at the very beginning of the 16th century, they built a small prayer house next to the gates of the city they themselves had destroyed. A few decades later, the chapel was rebuilt, as evidenced by the inscription carved into the stone wall: "Here, on this spot, stood the gates through which Governor-General A. di Albuquerque entered and took the city from the Muslims on St Catherine's Day in the year 1510, in whose honor and memory Governor-General Jorge Cabral ordered this building to be constructed in 1550 with funds from His Majesty".
In the middle of the 20th century, the church underwent yet another reconstruction — quite unsuccessful and destructive, in the opinion of many. Architect Baltazar di Castro, as part of an ambitious project to renew Old Goa, allowed himself to rebuild the structure using modern building materials. The facade underwent significant changes, and parts of the overall structure were destroyed.
